Indian Summer Recycling

THIS CASCO, MICH., DUO’S SECOND ACT PROVES TO BE AS IMPORTANT AS IT IS PROFITABLE

May 03, 2018

“Komatsu machines are very dependable”

A Komatsu PC290LC
is put to work turning
a pile of yard-waste
material and helping
the composting process.
“We had used dozers to
turn piles, but we would
always get clay in our
loads,” said Partner Fred
Thompson. “Then, one
day Bob had an idea
to use an excavator to
turn the piles from the
top-down. It was perfect.”

This Indian Summer Recycling operator uses a new Komatsu WA470 wheel loader to fill a semi trailer with compost material.

Longtime friends Bob Brooks and Fred
Thompson haven’t fully grasped the concept
of retirement. After enjoying highly successful
careers – Brooks owned a hardware store and
Thompson was an attorney – the duo decided
to go into the compost business in 1990.

Growing public concern about a shortage
of landfill space and the benefits of recycling
gave Thompson and Brooks an idea. They
would start a facility to accept yard waste
from local communities, keeping it out of
the landfills, and turn it into compost that
their company could sell. It would serve two
purposes: protect the environment and make
money. Both turned out to be correct, but far
from easy.

“Truth be known, we started the business
because we were going to get paid to take stuff
that we thought God was just going to turn
into dirt anyway,” admitted Thompson. “Our
mentality was, ‘How hard could it be?’ As it
turned out, pretty darn hard, actually.”

Today, Indian Summer Recycling processes
roughly 40,000 tons of leaves and grass
clippings annually and has contracts to sell
the resulting compost. However, before the
firm could reach its current level of success
and efficiency, Brooks and Thompson
had to literally create the blueprint on
yard-waste recycling.

The business was one of the first private
yard-waste recycling centers in the United
States. Not only was there a lack of
information and research on the industry to
pull from, but also there was little legislation
governing the suddenly popular field. The pair
threw themselves into the business, helping
develop standards and practices that paved
the way for the industry.

“I had at least 10 people tell me that we
wouldn’t survive one year,” recalled Brooks.
“Here we are 27 years later. We’ve outlasted
a lot of our competitors, and we did it on
our own.”

Indian Summer Recycling has eight
employees and accepts yard waste from
communities within a 35-mile radius of its
30-acre campus in Casco, Mich. This territory
includes all of Macomb County.

The smell of success

Having ample space to store incoming yard
waste and securing contracts to sell it are two
vital components to running a successful
recycling company. To set their firm apart,
Brooks and Thompson mastered another
aspect of the business: smell management.
However, don’t expect them to share how they
keep 40,000 tons of yard waste odorless.

“It’s a trade secret,” said Brooks with a wink.
“Controlling the smell is a huge challenge in
our industry, because it can get really bad. It
made Fred sick one day, and my wife used
to ask me to change clothes in the garage
before I came inside. The odor ruined the car
I had when we started. We did some research,
tried a few things and finally came up with a
good solution.”

As recycling centers opened, the resulting
odor caused many communities to change their
zoning laws to keep the facilities away from
residents. It became readily apparent to Brooks
and Thompson that solving this problem would
be a key to future success.

“Overall, people were excited about the service
we were providing, but the smell was a bit
overwhelming,” recalled Thompson. “It went
from a nice addition to the community to an ugly
situation. Once people figured out recycling was
profitable, we had a lot of competitors, and they
didn’t care as much about controlling the smell.
Compost centers got a bad reputation and zoning
regulations changed as a result. Fortunately, it
did help to weed out the people who weren’t
committed to doing it the right way.”

“Keeping the odor to a minimum is important
because no one wants to spend their day
smelling this stuff,” Brooks added. “That’s one
huge aspect of our job, and it’s also an important
part of being a good neighbor. We’re very proud
of our record.”

Using a Komatsu WA470 wheel loader, an Indian Summer Recycling operator moves a
load of leaves and grass clippings onto a compost pile.

Innovating with Komatsu

With few established industry protocols in
place, Indian Summer Recycling recognized an
open invitation to experiment with its day-to-day
operations. One area of focus was equipment.

“When we started, I had a garden tractor
with tongs behind it,” laughed Brooks. “I was
a little overmatched because we had about as
much material coming in then as we do today.
Everyone was still learning how to run an
operation like this. It involved a lot of expensive
trial and error.”

Indian Summer Recycling finally found the
right fit when it turned to Continental Equipment
Company (CEC) and Sales Manager Greg Doyal
for Komatsu dozers and wheel loaders in 2000.
The business further increased its efficiency when
the partners made the decision to purchase new
machinery instead of used equipment.

“We tried a lot of equipment that was supposed
to be specialized for our needs, but it just didn’t
work,” noted Brooks. “Thirty percent of our
costs were going toward keeping our machines
operating. Finally, we called Greg and got serious.
He had been telling us the advantages of buying
new machines for years, so we finally decided
to listen. After that, our fuel consumption went
down 40 percent.”

With Komatsu equipment from CEC slotted
into the equation, Brooks and Thompson
continued to tinker with their efficiency, and that
led to a “light-bulb” moment.

“Originally, we were using dozers to turn the
piles – which is necessary to help the material
break down into compost – and wheel loaders
to move it to the screeners and load trucks,”
detailed Thompson. “The ground here is made
up of a lot of clay. No matter what we did, or
how good our operators were, we kept getting
clay mixed in with our compost, which isn’t ideal
because clay is non-organic. Then, one day Bob
had the idea to use an excavator to turn the piles
from the top-down. It was perfect.”

Today, Indian Sumer Recycling uses two
Komatsu WA470 wheel loaders as well as a pair
of Komatsu PC290LC excavators to manage piles
and load trucks.

“The Komatsu machines are very dependable,”
said Thompson. “We know they will start up
every morning and go all day. It has really helped
us increase production and efficiency at our site.”

The company also trusts CEC for machine
maintenance through Komatsu CARE, a
program that provides complimentary service
on its new Tier 4 equipment for the first
2,000 hours or three years.

“Having CEC maintain our equipment has been
so nice,” said Brooks. “We used to spend eight
hours trying to get a machine to work for part of
a shift. With new Komatsu equipment, that’s not
an issue. Plus, CEC monitors the machines and
schedules service and maintenance for us. We also
trust them to work on types of equipment they
don’t carry.

“We really value the relationship we have with
CEC,” he continued. “Greg does an amazing job
for us, and if we ever need anything, he is on it.”

Need for expansion

Neither Brooks nor Thompson are in any
rush to start a second retirement; they see
Indian Summer Recycling as positioned for
continued success.

“This is a lifetime business,” declared Brooks.
“We’ve been around for more than 25 years,
and the service we provide has become a value
to the public. I think that if a decision would be
made to put yard waste back into the landfill, the
communities we serve wouldn’t stand for it.”

With the popularity of recycling and increased
awareness regarding the benefits of composting,
Indian Summer Recycling would like to add a
second facility.

“The demand is there,” said Thompson.
“Recycling is as popular as ever. Compost is
excellent topsoil for growing grass and other
crops. We have customers who have sent us
photos of a site that has lush grass grown from
it in three days. Compost is also a great way to
lower lead levels in the ground because it changes
the composition of the soil, which is a big deal in
our area.

“If we had a second facility, it could be just
as busy as our current one,” he added. “We’re
working on it; we have some zoning issues to
navigate, but if we could get one, we’d benefit.”